Steel mine-rail tie



P. J. MURPHY.

STEEL MINE RAIL TIE.

APPLICATION FILED 050.27 1920.

Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

WITNESSES y W INVENTOR.

Z BY 5 A TT RNEYj 1nine rail tie and its object is to provide a tie of this character possessing marked and UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE.

v r PATRICK J. MURPHY, 0F DULBOIS, PENNSYLVANIA.

STEEL MINE-RAIL TIE. V

To all 'whoin it may concern: Be it known that I, PATRICK Dubois, in the county .of Clearfield and to the accompanying drawings. l

The present inventlon relates to a steel important advantages over known devices of this nature as hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a plan view of one end of a mine rail tie, illustrating a part of the rail secured thereon;

Fig. 2 is a cross section of one of the'ties;

Fig. 3 is a partial side elevation of one of the ties and with one of the rails shown in cross section; 4

Fig. 4- is an end elevation of one of the ties; and r Fig. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a pair of the ties and the rails in assembled relation.

'Like numerals designate {corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

The ties constituting the subject matter of the present invention are of plate like formation and are preferably formed of steel and comprise the body portions 5 having hooks 6 struck therefrom which are adapted to engage over the inner edges of the base flanges 7 of the rails. The hooks 6 not only take the place of spikes to hold the inner edges of the base flanges of the rails but they serve as gage elements to properly space the rails 8' and .9 from each other. 'Oppositely directed hooks 10 and 11 are struck from the plate 5 outwardly of the rail and clamping plates 12 are adapted tolie between and engage beneath the hooks 10 and 11. By referring to Figs. 1 and 5 it will be seen that these clamp plates taper somewhat toward their inner ends and this in conjunction with the fact that the upper face of the base flange of the rail lies at an inclination causes these clamping plates to wedge themselves firmly in position as they are forced inwardly. Outward movement of the clamping plates is prevented by tapering wekige pins 13 which are adapted to be dropped into any J. Mr nrrnr, a citizen of the United States, residlng at Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 30, 1921. Ap ncation filed'December 27, 1920. SeriaI No. 433,193. 7

with mine car tracks, it will. be apparent that it is equally asiuseful in any relation where it is desired to temporarily lay a track or disassemble the same for the purpose ofshifting the position of said track. For example, in lumbering temporary tracks are laid into the woods andit becomes necessary .to shift the position of the track as the cutters move from place to place. The tie herein shown and described is useful for this purpose or in any other relation where quick assembly or disassembly' of the.

track is necessary. However this tiepossesses many features of novelty and ad- 'vantage which particularly adapt it for use a in mines. For example,,the body portions of the ties being composed of flat plates of approximately only gof' an inch in thickness cffcct'a considerable difference in the height of the finished track over the 501d style wooden tie. This is of importance in mines where, frequently, the overhead room is limited when working in low veins of.

coal. Furthermore, since the track is lower it follows that the height of the mine car, as a whole, will be lowerand thus the miner will not have to lift his coal as high whenloa'ding mine cars upon'this track as would be the case with the old style track.

In laying the rails it'is only necessary to place them in position with their base flanges beneath the inner hooks 6 and there after force the wedge like clamping plates 12in position and drop the pins 13 in place;

There are no lugs to be bent up or down, to become weakened'or. brokenofi' after being bent up and down a number of times. 1

as is the case with someof the forms of ties heretofore proposed.

A further advantage of the structure h'erei in shown and described isthat if a car jumps V the track it may be very easily put back on the rails owing to the fact that. the first two wheels of the car cannot drop down between these ties to the extent that they formerly did between wooden ties. lVhere the wheels dropped downwardly to a considerable extent between the wooden ties this caused the rear wheels of the car to jump the track and rendered it necessary to unload the car before it could be restored to its position on the rails.

The steel ties herein shown and described can be used indefinitely, where the old wooden ties had to be frequently replaced after spikes had been driven into them a few times. I

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction set forth but that it includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is: V

1. A metallic tie of the character described comprising as an integral structure a body portion, abutments carried thereby adapted to engage over the inner edges of the base flanges of the rails, hooks struck from the upper face of the tie outwardly of the rail which project toward each other and are spaced above the upper face of the 7 tie, incombination with substantially flat clamping plates adapted to slide beneath said elements and engage over the outer base flange of the rail and means for preventing outward movementof said clamping V plates.

2. A structure as recited in claim 1 where in the means for preventing such outward movementconsists of pins which vertically traverse the body portion of the tie.

3. A structure as recited in claim 1 wherein the ties are provided with a plurality of openings formed theret-hrough and the mean's for preventing such outward movement of the clamping plates comprise tapered pins adapted to engage in said openings.

4. A tie of the character described comprising a flat plate like body portion having integral outwardly directed hooks struck therefrom adapted to engage over the inner edges of the base flanges of the rails, spaced hooks projecting at right angles to the first named hooks and struck from said body portion outwardly of the rail, tapered clamping plates adapted to slide beneath the lastnamed hooks and, to engage over the'baseflanges of the rails and tapered pins for engaging the outer edges of the clamping plates, said tiesbeing provided with a plurality of openings some of which lie farther from the rails than others, said tapered pins being adapted to engage in any of said openings. I V

5. A structure as recited in claim 4 wherein said ties areprovided with downwardly directed prongs.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

PATRICK J. MURPHY. 

